St. Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, was the one stop we had visited before, so we opted for an action filled day away from Charlotte Amalia, the main town on the island. We boarded our bus to take us to Virgin Islands Ecotours and headed across the island. Riding on the roads in St Thomas is one of the oddest things. They drive on the left side of the road, being a former British possession, but the cars ALL have the driver on the left side of the car, now being a United States territory. Even the police cars are set up with the drivers on the left. That would be so hard to get used to. The thing that really helps when driving in Britain is being seated on the side by the centerline of the road. We don’t think we will ever rent a car in St. Thomas.
Back in St. Thomas!
Our day trip included a kayak trip through the mangroves, a short hike out to a blowhole, then snorkeling in the lagoon before kayaking back to the starting point. It did sound a bit busy, but turned out to be a fantastic outing.
The kayaks were two-person kayaks, so Tami was naturally a little nervous about joining Mike in a small water vessel, but Mike behaved himself perfectly and we soon had a smooth rhythm going with the paddles. And then there were a few of our fellow tourists. Most were doing fine, but there were a few who just couldn’t get it. One pair of guys, we’ll call them Big Doofus and Little Doofus, could not paddle in a straight line if their life depended on it. Unfortunately, we had started out near them and were plagued by their continuous forty-five degree dashes across the water intersecting our course on a regular basis. Try as we might to get ahead or behind, we couldn’t shake them so it just became a part of our tour to avoid BD and LD.
Heading out on tour
The mangroves were beautiful and we had great guides who told us all about the vegetation, history, and ecology of the area. It was an ecotour, after all. It was interesting to learn that while the area is now a protected wildlife refuge, during hurricanes people are allowed and encouraged to bring their boats within the mangroves to ride out the storm. The root systems of the mangroves provide the perfect protection against the high winds and waters.
We were soon beaching the kayaks and heading out on our hike, but first we had a hermit crab race. The spot where we got out of the water was swarming with hermit crabs and one had to be careful not to step on them. We were each encouraged to choose our hermit crab (picking it up carefully to avoid those claws!), name it, and place it in the starting circle. Tami picked up the one that was trucking away from her feet the fastest, and named it Sparky. Unfortunately, Sparky decided to hunker down in his shell for the start of the race and, well, the entirety of the race. Oh well, we had a blowhole to go see!
Pulled up at our hike/snorkel stop
Cool beach graveled with lots of coral
Hermit crab
Lots of hermit crabs
It was a pleasant short hike out to where the rocky shore met the lagoon and there was some great wave action as the surf hit the rocks. The blowhole had some action going as well, so there was a lot to see. Our guides were also good at finding tide pool life.
Off on our hike
Brittle star
Guide taking pictures of couples in the blow hole
Back to the kayaks to put on our snorkel gear, which we had all brought with us in the boats. We were snorkeling within the protection of the lagoon, so there was no need for fins – just mask and snorkel. We swam over to the reef and at first it just seemed like we were seeing coral and just a couple of fish, but as we snorkeled longer and farther out, we were seeing more and more varieties of fish. At one point, a guide pointed out a barracuda near where Tami was swimming. She ducked her head down in time to see the barracuda saunter ( do fish saunter?) her way and she was able to swim right on top of him for quite a while. Very cool.
Fish
Baracuda!
More fish
Trying to take pictures of these fish is another matter. We have underwater cameras for both of us now, and they work quite well, but when you are floating around in the water, subject to the whims of the waves, you never know what will show up in the viewfinder when you actually hit the shutter, or if it will be in focus. We have a lot of shots of tail fins. Don’t know why those fish can’t just hold still. Tami did find one fish that did hold still. He seemed to like to sit behind a tall skinny piece of coral, like he was hiding or something. But the current kept dragging Tami away from the fish so she still couldn’t get a good picture!
Returned to the kayaks and we headed back to the starting point, although we took a little different route so we got to see more of the mangroves. Wonderfully beautiful. Back on the bus, then back to the ship for a quick shower before taking a jaunt into Charlotte Amalia. Between the salt water and the heat and humidity, we were extremely sticky!
We did venture into town, mostly to see if we could find an art gallery from our previous visit. We couldn’t remember exactly where it was, so we did some fruitless walking and when we finally found it, they were closed for the day. Oh well, in our wandering we did come across a couple of nice shops, including one where the owner, after hearing where we were from, said “oh, I was just there! I’m in a band and we were playing in the old seafaring part of town.” We said “Ballard?” And he said yes! He had been playing at the Lief Erickson Hall in a contra dance band. Small world!
The rest of Charlotte Amalie was pretty much as we remembered it. They have converted several blocks of old warehouses into shops and they look very appealing and beautiful from the outside. Unfortunately, probably ninety percent of them are filled with jewelry shops, and we’re talking multiple stores of International Diamonds and the ilk. Blah. But there are a few nice boutiques and galleries sprinkled within so we weren’t completely without things to look at.
It was soon time to make it back to the ship, though, so we caught a “taxi”. The taxis are more a cross between a bus and a taxi and everyone uses them, locals and tourists. We saw them throughout our drive across the island. They consist of the front of a big pick up truck, then the back has three to five open rows of seats that each hold about five people each. They drive along the main routes and people just hop on and off, sometimes at designated stops, sometimes they just seem to stop. We got on ours when it was stopped at a light and the driver called “Taxi?” And we hopped on because we were looking for one. You seem to pay according to how far you’re going. They are everywhere and often quite colorful. They seem to make a pretty efficient transit system.
St. Thomas taxi
This was our last stop on the cruise so we had to have a final piña colada and daiquiri to toast the end of a wonderful cruise. We have another couple of days in San Juan and then we will be back to the rain of the Pacific Northwest. But to be honest, it sounds kind of good right now!